Ham & Bacon Corn Chowder

Let me level with you - while the chicken may not have been perfection on the first try...this recipe here is something that I cannot proclaim over enough. It was delicious, from the first taste to the bite I had today warmed up as leftovers. I am a huge fan of soup/stew/chowder and this recipe certainly didn't disappoint! This is originally a Paula Deen recipe (and there is no butter y'all...amazing) so I felt like it was bound to be tasty - and I was right!

All the makings of some delicious chowda!

I'm pretty sure I would have been content to eat just this...

What You Need

- 6-8 pieces of bacon; cooked

- 1 package of Hormal small diced ham

- 4 medium red potatoes, cubed

- 1 medium onion, chopped

- 2 tsp. dried oregano

- 2 cups chicken stock

- 2 cans cream-style corn

- salt & pepper to taste

- 2 cups half & half

Oh my yes - starting to look & smell heavenly...

Half & Half always makes things nicer, am I right?

What You'll Do

- In a medium stock pot add bacon, potatoes, oregano and onion. Cook over medium-low heat until the onions are translucent; about 7 minutes.

- Pour in the chicken stock, corn and ham. Bring this to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

- In a small saucepan, warm the half & half but do NOT boil. Add the warm half & half just before serving.

- Garnish with chives, shredded cheddar cheese or whatever else you think would make this dish especially delicious! Enjoy!

The finished chowder - ready to be chowed down on.

I'll take all the bowls please.

I don't know what your weather is going to be like over the next few days but here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, it is going to be cold. I mean cold as in - COLD - the high on Sunday is 18! So it's perfect soup weather and this one kicked things off perfectly with it's warm, creamy and delicious taste! I hope you enjoy!

Watson Wednesday - The Fourth Edition

A flashback to the very first day I met Watson - love at first sight!

Brown Sugar Baked Garlic Chicken

So - this was a Pintrest try and while we (being my Mom and I) really enjoyed it, I think I already have an addendum to it that I think would really kick up the flavor a notch! I'll let you decide whether you want to cook it the original way or the kicked up way - and if you try the kicked up way, let me know what you think!

Not many ingredients in this one - simple, easy & delicious!

What You Need

- 4-6 chicken tenderloins/3-4 thin chicken breasts

- 2 tbsp. olive oil

- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

- 4 tbsp. brown sugar

- salt & pepper to taste

What You'll Do

- Preheat the oven to 450. In a skillet, combine the olive oil, garlic powder and brown sugar to create a sauce/rub.

- Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Apply the brown sugar and garlic mixture to the chicken; covering the chicken as liberally as possible.

- Cook for 25-30 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken or until the juices run clear.

Chicken - before & after!

Now then - all this business about kicking things up a notch. The outside of the chicken had a lovely, tasty bit of crispiness and flavor...but it didn't really permeate too deep into the chicken. A thought that my Mom and I ruminated on as we ate - it just needed a little something more. My suggestion? Well, since I ate this with a little bit of barbecue sauce, that's what I'm thinking needs to be added. Also - up the ante on the garlic and the brown sugar! 

I think next time I whip this up, I'll mix my sauce/rub together ahead of time and add in a couple tablespoons of my favorite Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and then put my chicken and my saucy concoction in a Ziploc bag to marinate for the day. I'll add a little sprinkle of salt, pepper and brown sugar on top before cooking to give it a nice crisp and I'm betting it will turn out absolutely delightful! 

Already February...

I feel like I have the Monday blues today - which is silly since I'm off today and nothing about my week seems especially taxing. I guess sometimes we all just have one of those days. Maybe it isn't so much Monday blues as not feeling like the words are flowing as easily today as they did last week? I can't be sure but I feel like I'm rambling...

Red Velvet M&M's...not all that I'd hoped they'd be.

I don't know why, but Monday through Wednesday seem like a blur. I spent last Monday just like I'm spending this Monday - doing a lot of this and that, here and there. Monday afternoon was spent with my friend Katie (new friend = yay!) just talking and talking and talking and planning to watch Despicable Me 2 because I haven't seen that movie yet and I need to. It was so windy here on Monday that I was fairly certain we were all going to blow away - I knew there would be more winter weather here but no one ever mentioned that it is crazy windy in this part of Virginia! Hold on to your hat and don't blow away!

Tuesday was work and Wednesday was work and then an interview for a possible full-time job. I won't elaborate too much more on that at this point because I'm waiting to see what will come of it - I will say I feel like the interview went well and I'm hoping for the best....especially since I've been looking for seven months now! Wednesday evening was spent at church, where I spent most of Bible study cuddling with one of may favorite humans under a year old - I did also pay attention to the Bible study; I even offered some comments. I'm good at multi-tasking like that!

She is NOT amused with me & my faces.

Not even the addition of a blanket on the head can produce a smile this week.

Thursday - Watson says "holy crap it's cold, can we just go back inside!"

The rest of my week passed like a lot of my weeks: working and reading and passing time. I spent my Thursday and Friday nights peddling cards to weary (and often weird) shoppers and rounded out the start of the weekend by selling stuffed animals that sing and dance throughout the Saturday morning hours. My weekend (as it so happens to be this week: Saturday - Monday) really started on Saturday afternoon and I made good use of it; exploring and getting out and about to see things in town and the surrounding mountain communities!

Friday night treat - a raspberry mousse cup from a new French bakery! 

This little guy is spoiled rotten - and I'm fairly certain he knows it.

I trailed along with my parents on Saturday afternoon to the Walking Mall in Old Towne Winchester for a chocolate festival - there were multiple stores involved and you could taste chocolate and all kinds of chocolate related things from 2-5. We had some delicious hot chocolate at a pet store; the owner gave me some complimentary dog treats for Watson and he was a huge fan of them! We had some very interesting chocolate at a gift shop; one of the bars had rosemary and some other herbs in it and was dreadful, I had to immediately taste a different piece of chocolate to get that taste out of my mouth! We stumbled onto an amazing furniture store that had rooms and rooms of beautifully refinished furniture at absolutely amazing prices - I found several pieces I fell in love with before we left the store and I'll definitely be making a return trip.

We rounded out Saturday night with dinner at Olive Garden with some of our friends from church - we had a waiter that was a wee bit on the ignorant side. Why do I say that? When he heard that we originally hailed from Mississippi he was quite certain that my Dad used to be a farmer - because apparently the great state of Mississippi is nothing but flat land and farm hands. Oooh wee...some folks need to get an education.

Out & about in Old Towne Winchester!

Watson got a treat on Saturday evening - he was such a sweet pup, he deserved some goods!

Engrossed in House of Cards...hehehe...

We spent Sunday roaming the countryside - first having brunch at the Mimslyn Inn in Luray before heading up into the mountains to tour the Resort at Massanutten Mountain. My parents won some weekend stay with them at an RV show and as part of the deal for claiming the prize, they had to take a 90 minute tour of the property - and let me tell you, it was NOT 90 minutes. The tour was fine and whatnot...but it started at 1 and we weren't done until 4:15. Correct me if I'm wrong but that's not exactly 90 minutes, is it? We got to see the ski slopes and all the amenities provided by the resort but I finally had to excuse myself at the end because our tour guide/salesman was angling hard to get my parents to buy into their timeshare program and he obviously didn't know who he was dealing with....because it wasn't going to happen. Ha-ha!

Happy Brunch! A bit of Mimosa, Mimslyn Punch & Sparkling Cider!

The Mimslyn Inn in Luray - a lovely spot for brunch & I'm sure also a lovely place to stay!

The fountain outside the Inn - still a wee bit frozen!

The valley from the Massanutten Overlook - so lovely!

Skiing anyone? 

The resort has an indoor water park - which I must admit was pretty neat.

So - there you have it. The week seemed to pass pretty quickly; I've said it before and I'll say it again, with every passing month I feel like time moves faster and faster. Hopefully this week will be full of some exciting new possiblities and the start of a new adventure here in Virginia - but only time will tell.

Watson Wednesday - Edition the Third

Whoa! That episode of Sleepy Hollow was scary! 

Winter Weather is Fun - NOT

I moved to Virginia (in the summer months) filled with dewey-eyed optimism about what winter would bring: happy little snow flurries and days filled with pretty white washed landscapes, sitting inside drinking hot chocolate (or in my case, probably coffee) and watching as the snow fluttered happily to the ground. You guys - you guys...that is not this reality.

Do I still love the snow? Sure - it's splendid when you get to do the things I mentioned. However, this is not like the Deep South where when it snows all life is halted and everyone makes a miniature snowman that is just big enough to occupy part of their deck railing (wait - am I the only one that did that last January when it was 10 degrees??) and we all get to sit inside in the warmth binge watching movies and TV on DVD for two or three days. Virginia has ways of dealing with snow - which means life continues as usual - unless there is a blizzard or something.

What have I learned? Snow is very pretty and white...for about an hour. Then the salt/sand trucks and snow plows and pets come along and it all turns yellow or brown or a horrible black and it isn't pretty anymore. The ideal of sitting by a warm fire is dashed by the fact that you still have to go to work (because; you know, one needs money to eat and live and pay bills) and so you must bundle in five layers of clothes and wear those rain boots you never wore that much in Mississippi and carry your real shoes in another bag...and while the roads are fine, you better check yourself in parking lots because you will step on ice and go down faster than you can holler POPSICLE! (Why Popsicle? I don't know - it seemed good at the time.)

The past week was weird - weather-wise. So, enjoy the pictures and the tales...(and tails, in Watson's case.)

Watson waiting for Winter Storm Juno to do her worst - we were all left underwhelmed.

This was as much snow as we'd gotten by about 4 PM on Monday - 4-6 inches had been predicted.

So - Winter Storm Juno blew into town - or really, she limped in on her bad leg and kind of lazily scattered some snow around before she just gave up completely. My whole work schedule (as well as other people's) was rearranged in preparation for the big bag winter storm and so on Monday I sat at home with my Mom waiting for the massive snowfall to begin. Let me tell you, by 4 in the afternoon we were stir crazy from sitting at the house watching it not snow. Thankfully with the help of Netflix (thanks Lindsey!) we managed to struggle through and survive the day. All of that to say that my first "real" winter storm was not much to sniff at.

It finally started snowing on Monday night...

Less than an inch....& it was gone by 3 in the afternoon. 

Watson - so tired he can't even just sit up without crashing. He sleeps more than any creature I've ever seen & somehow still always needs another nap.

Tuesday and Wednesday were just cold. I would randomly look out the window and see snow fluttering around, but nothing worth getting excited over - although I must admit that I do think it's kind of neat to just be able to randomly take a peek outside and see snow flakes falling instead of rain. It's a nice alternative - as long as it doesn't stick. We started a new Bible study on Wednesday night at church and in between paying attention (I swear, I was paying attention) I also continued to teach Amelia the art of taking a good selfie. I don't actually take selfies a lot because I just don't get it...but if someone else is in the picture with me, then I'm good with that. I don't know what one calls a selfie that isn't just of their self. A groupie? I like to take groupies...

Groupie pic - she's getting good at this! 

Just hanging around in Bible study - turns out you can learn about the names of God while turned upside down.

She is too much fun & makes some of the best faces!

Thursday morning started out nice enough.

The weather was odd again on Thursday (what a shock, right?) The day started out nice enough with sunshine...even if it was fairly frigid outside. I worked from 9:30-4 and so I spent a huge chunk of the day inside a store with no windows, my only glimpse at the outside world being the peephole looking out the back of the stock room....oh...and the five minutes with the back door open while I flirted with the FedEx guy and he delivered shipment. Hehehe. Around 2 in the afternoon, every time I would walk to the back to get something I would hear this odd little plinking sound. Guess what? It was sleet! And it was coming down so hard it was plinking off everything around it - I watched through the peephole as it bounced all over the pavement and all I could think was "oh goody...the roads will be lovely." 

My precious co-worker told me she'd follow me home to make sure I was safe (even though she still had over an hour left of her shift) but I braved the sleet on my own. I took about ten years crossing the parking lot because 1) it was icy, icy and I didn't want to die in the parking lot of a mall and 2) I'd already slipped in the death lot (oh sorry...parking lot) on Tuesday evening and not only looked like a fool but jammed my finger on the car that I slapped my hand onto to keep myself from doing a complete face plant. If winter weather teaches us anything, it is how to be graceful - if you aren't, you will end up in pain. Your phone will also fly out of your pocket and into a small pile of snow (it survived...I know you were concerned, but fear not). The roads were actually fine and I made it home with no issues, so...Natalie - 1, Winter - 1...because I did that spectacular almost face plant on Tuesday.

The only way Watson can really deal with winter weather...unless there is snow & then he'd really like to play in it all day long.

Icy much?

He has started sitting so strangely recently - I swear, he thinks he is human.

What's that? I can't hear you under the layers of clothes I have on to take the dog out to pee in the 9 degree temps....

The weekend seems kind of like it passed in a blur. I was off on Saturday and Sunday and spent both days doing a whole lot of nothing...if the truth be known. My parents went out of town for the weekend, so Watson and I ran wild in the house and threw a wild party - and if by threw a wild party you know what I really meant is we watched five episodes of House of Cards and drank Ginger Ale, then you are correct. I did do a wee bit of shopping on Saturday because things were 80% off at Hobby Lobby and then I found clearance at Target and that's always fun...but otherwise it was just a Netflix kind of night. Sunday was basically church and then Panera for lunch (I'm pretty sure half of Winchester eats at Panera for lunch on Sunday - holy crap) and then being a bum all afternoon until my parents returned - and they returned with pizza! We watched some of that sad sack Super Bowl game but we were relieved of watching the last quarter because Downton Abbey came on and who wouldn't choose DA over the Super Bowl? It's an obvious choice.

Getting lovies before his Nana leaves him...for a whole 24 hours...

All that earlier rambling to say this - I love living in Virginia and I love the goofy weather...most of the time. It's funny to just look outside and be like "oh yeah...it's snowing again..." I think the weather is weird anywhere you go; it's the nature of things. Having said all that, I'm about to go to Wal-Mart and the wind is gusting at 35 miles per hour...so maybe I don't love that and hopefully I won't blow away.

Sunday afternoon grass roll while the sun was out...in between the snow...& then the rain...& then the sun again. This weather though...

What I Was Into in January

January - often a fairly dull month. Certainly this January was no exception; there were plenty of days filled with dreary, drizzly and misty stretches that went on and on. Not to mention more snow in the span of one month than I've probably seen in my previous thirty years combined. Ha! No matter where you live, January is pretty much a dreary month...which is why it's perfect for reading lots of books, seeing lots of movies and just doing a whole lot of nothing, ha-ha!

Books I Read

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography - Listen, I am a die-hard NPH fan and when I saw that he was releasing an autobiography, I knew I would have to snap it up...so when I was strolling through Target sipping my Starbucks and I saw it on the shelf, I grabbed it. Now I'll admit I was never one of those kids that liked the choose your own adventure books and I wasn't thrilled with the layout of this book; I like people to tell me the story...I don't want to have to choose, ha-ha! Having said that, it was an easy read with plenty of laughs but what I really enjoyed most were the parts about his time on How I Met Your Mother and what he wrote about his twins. I'm really glad I added this book to my collection.

An interesting read - if you can choose correctly...

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon - A book I would have never picked up on my own but thanks to the Long Branch book club, I read this book! The book follows a young man named Daniel who is introduced to the book The Shadow of the Wind and spends the early part of his life trying to track down the reclusive author of the book. Along the way, he encounters many fascinating characters and his life is changed dramatically. The last 100 pages of the book really tie everything together and give the story a dramatic and satisfying ending. I'd recommend this book if you are looking for a great read - no matter the genre you normally like, this book is just flat out great!

Book club reading at it's finest!

A Breath of Snow & Ashes by Diana Gabaldon - The sixth book in the eight (currently) books in the Outlander series. I keep having to put these aside to pick up book club books...or I put them aside a bit to read something else, ha-ha! And while I'm in the middle of this one, I must confess that I've put this one down again to pick up a couple other books...ha! I promise book, I will finish you one day!

Slowly but surely making my way through the series...

Books in the Queue

The Professor & the Madman by Simon Winchester - the book for our February book club meeting. I've got to get to reading this one....haven't even started it yet and book club meets on the 3rd! Yikes!

American Sniper by Chris Kyle - Now that I've seen the movie, I'd like to read the book! I am (and always have been) one of those people that wants to read the book and see the movie/TV show. Books almost always win out...if we're making a comparison. And I'm already reading this one, so maybe it's wavering somewhere between being read and being in the queue!

Can't Miss Television

Downton Abbey - Who doesn't love a chance to get back to the drama of both life upstairs and downstairs at the Abbey? Mary still can't make up her mind about just who she might want to marry...Edith is trying to love her baby while keeping her a secret...Branson is still trying to figure out exactly who he is and what he wants and Lord Grantham just wants things to stay the way they've always been! And that's just the upstairs drama! Can Bates and Anna make it through just one season without some kind of turmoil? I doubt it. And just what exactly is going on between Carson and Mrs. Hughes? Only time and a few more visits to the Abbey will tell.

Do you remember the water bottle scandal?

The Golden Globes - Yes, I'm one of those people that live for Hollywood award show season! I love seeing all the glamorous dresses and the men dressed so jauntily. I love to hear the jokes (although the Cosby joke made by Tina and Amy was too far...too far) and see if any of the movies and TV shows I have enjoyed in the past year will win. This year nothing that I was really rooting for won except Joanne Froggat, who plays Anna on Downton Abbey. There are still a couple movies I'd like to see before the Oscars; maybe my picks (Benedict Cumberbatch for Best Actor, Rosamund Pike for Best Actress, The Imitation Game for Best Picture) will fare better there! 

They were pretty funny....except for that one joke!

House of Cards - Oh my, well I've finally taken the time to watch House of Cards and I understand all the hype. This show will keep you on the edge of your seat and you'll be so engrossed that when the credits roll you'll wonder where the last 50 minutes went. The story follows House majority Whip Frank Underwood and his wife Claire as they scheme, plot, claw and connive their way to the top of the DC food chain. The cast of characters surrounding them are equally intriguing and I've about decided that what makes this show so fascinating is that this is probably a fairly accurate depiction of how Washington DC is run. Which quite frankly (no pun intended) is terrifying...but it makes for good TV. If you can call anything off Netflix TV...which is debatable...but I guess we'll leave it classified as such for the blog post's sake. 

A completely riveting show.

North and South - A BBC miniseries from almost eleven years ago that I stumbled upon because it stars Richard Armitage and when I googled him on NetFlix, this came up. The story follows Margaret Hale; the daughter of a pastor who moves with her family from the bountiful South of England to a desolate mining town in the North of England where she encounters the owner of a cotton mill, Mr. John Thornton. The story plays out during a union worker's strike in the mill town and the changes brought about from the pastor uprooting his family from the South to the North - two places that are very different. This started slow but picked up as it went and I was really thrilled with the ending. If you have Netflix and like things like Downton Abbey (spoiler - "Mr. Bates" is in North and South) this might be up your alley!

The Adventures of Mr. Thornton & Miss Margaret Hale!

Movies I Watched

Unbroken - Oh wow. What a movie. I had read the book before we all went to the theater to see the film and I was looking forward to seeing how it translated on the big screen. I wasn't (too) disappointed. Well, maybe I'm phrasing that strangely - the movie was excellent and told a wonderful; if at times hard to watch, story. Louie Zamperini is certainly the definition of not only a hero but also a survivor. The one thing that was so crucial to his story was that on his return from the war, he was plagued with an intense desire for revenge against his Japanese captors. He turned to drinking and was going down a violent path when he was begged by his wife to attend a Billy Graham revival - he went and on the second night, he gave his life to Christ and became a new man. He would return to Japan later in life and seek out his captors to ask their forgiveness for the revenge he held in his heart for a time after the war. The film left this out - which I guess isn't shocking coming out of Hollywood - it was still an amazing film and I'd encourage anyone to see it, I just wish they'd added that little bit more.

An amazing movie about an amazing man - & the actor that played him was pretty cute too.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - I can't believe it took me almost a month to get to the theater to see this but I finally got there and thoroughly enjoyed this final chapter of the Hobbit movie trilogy. The film wrapped up the story of the Dwarven Companies quest to take back the Lonely Mountain and their kingdom of Erebor, which also ends Bilbo's unexpected journey. The road home after the quest is more bumpy than not with the return of the Darkness, Thorin's battle with dragon sickness and the battle between the five armies mentioned in the title. The movie was amazing and and all encompassing, taking movie watchers along for the ride from one end of Middle Earth to the other. I loved this movie and I especially loved how it ended by bringing everything full circle!

The armies are massing...

American Hustle - Oh Lord...this movie was a hoot. I don't necessarily know if it was meant to be, but it was pretty funny. The costumes and hairstyles alone are enough to give you a good laugh and the storyline is interesting as well. You follow a con man and his protege as they pull minor scams...and once they get caught, they're persuaded to help the FBI pull off a major scam in exchange for their freedom. Jennifer Lawrence made the movie for me; her character Rossalyn is a ditzy, brash and nutsy blonde who seems to always be in the middle of mishaps throughout the film...and Bradley Cooper with those curlers in his hair, hilarious! 

Some seriously classy fashions...

The Imitation Game - Such a great movie! I almost fell out when I saw that it was finally playing at a theater here near us and within 24 hours of seeing that it was showing, I was sitting in the theater to watch it! The movie tells the story of Alan Turing and his team's work at Bletchly Park during WWII trying to break the Nazi Enigma Code...with some insanely complicated math that made my head hurt, ha-ha! The story under that one is the persecution and subsequent death of Alan Turing after being prosecuted as a homosexual in 1951...a man who helped end the war and was handed only scrutiny and cruelty by his country. The film is incredibly interesting and of course, I was even more interested in it because it starred Cumberbatch! My Dad obviously knows this because when it started, he said "tell Natalie to be calm, there's Cumberbatch up there!" Oh geez.

Absolutely excellent!

American Sniper - Another excellent movie; I cannot stress enough how good this movie was. It was also an extremely intense movie. I think I spent 90 of the 120 minutes that it ran on the edge of my seat because there was no way to know what was coming next. I think Chris Kyle's story is so very heroic and heartbreaking; I know it is receiving a lot of criticism from certain media outlets but I can only view him as a courageous man who used his talents to serve his country and fight for the freedom of our nation. I enjoyed this movie...as much as a person can enjoy a movie about the topic of war. I do have to say that it obviously touched everyone in the theater as there was next to no talking once the movie ended.

What a movie - amazing.

Music I Listened To

The Story of My Life by One Direction - Oh lordy...a song by One Direction. I hear this song playing over and over while I work during the day (and night) and it got into my head and I couldn't get it out. It has a nice catchy tune and a good beat, so I popped it onto my cell phone and have been singing along to it ever since!

Lips Are Movin by Meghan Trainor - I must admit, I was one of probably 10 whole people who really didn't get into All About that Bass but I do really like this song. It's catchy and has a good beat. Plus, it's good to listen to as I wander around the neighborhood with my pup!

The Imitation Game by Alexandre Desplat - The soundtrack to the movie; I'm always a sucker for well written classical music and this score is one of those. I love the rhythms and melodies that this soundtrack have and I've spent many a drive to and from work listening to the songs on this soundtrack!

The Last Goodbye by Billy Boyd - The song that accompanied the credits to The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. I love the song and the message it leaves fans and moviegoers with. Not only is it a beautiful and haunting song but I love that they brought back Billy Boyd (for those of you who don't watch LotR related things, he was one of the hobbits in the original trilogy made almost ten years ago) to sing this song!

Theater & the Like

Nothing to speak of in this section this month....but in February, well in February there will be something to speak of! Yay!

Yummy in the Tummy

Well - not to toot my own horn, but I certainly enjoyed my Italian Cream Cheese Chicken! It was especially delicious and I will certainly be adding it to the rotation of things I love to cook!

I have really enjoyed trying out new creamers this month - laugh if you must, but I love coffee and I love to have strong coffee with flavored creamer. Scoff if you will, but to each his own when it comes to the coffee game. A new favorite for me is Coffee Mate Chocolate Chip Cookie creamer - it has made many a cup of morning coffee absolutely delicious!

Yes please - I'll take all the bottles.

What I'm Looking Forward To

Sleepy Hollow by the Washington Ballet - Yes! We are going to see Sleepy Hollow at the Kennedy Center on February 21st and I cannot wait! Ever since I saw it in the quarterly magazine we get from The Kennedy Center back in November, I have been quietly but persistently asking about it. And I got my wish - we will be going to see it! Yay!

I can't wait!

Massanutten Mountain - Apparently my parents won a trip out to Massanutten Mountain Resort and while they aren't going for the trip in February, they are going for the day to tour the resort and just check out the place. They have tons of cool things to do - the largest indoor water park on the East coast, ski slopes, a spa and shopping! Even going for the day to check the place out sounds like an adventure in itself...and I'm always up for an advenutre!


So - there was January in a nutshell - like I said, all the snow, rain, sleet, freezing rain and crazy wind kept me indoors more than out and so I passed my time watching all manner of TV and movies. I have a feeling February might be much the same - based on the comments of so many people who live here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Spring is likely to be here anytime soon!